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The Gallaghers or Gallachers as they are more commonly called in Scotland, have long associations with Scotland. If you are one of tthe many people with Gallagher connections we  want to hear from you about you and your and your family's story. Later we intend to add a sample of these to our site but only with the express permission of those who forward their stories. 

In the 19^th century as the Industrial Revolution gained pace in Scotland and Ireland hit very hard times, the inhabitants in the poorer regions of the North West of Ireland discovered in Scotland a source of employment and indeed salvation. Many Gallaghers, along with their fellow countrymen, took the “Boat” to Scotland. The “Boat” being the cattle boat that plied from Derry Quay to Scotland and which also carried passengers. It appears that the Scots officials often transcribed the name (probably from Gaelic which would have been the native tongue in Ireland at the period) to Gallacher and so we have two forms of the name widely used in Scotland today, i.e. Gallagher and Gallacher.

 

The statistics for records in the various forms of the name held in the Scotland’s People website (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/) shown below, give an insight into the pace of immigration. However a disconcerting note rings out when the figures for births are compared to deaths, with the former being lower than the latter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Researchers in Scotland are fortunate as the Scottish records are all online and as a researcher you can do most of your investigation from a computer. The “Scotland’s People” site gives access to Births, Deaths and Marriage certificates and also Census records and extracts can be purchased and posted to you. This would mean you wouldn’t have to travel to Edinburgh and can do the work in the comfort of your own home. Birth and marriage certificates record what you would expect in the way of who is being born or married along with parents’ names and occupation. However Scottish death certificates can also include the parents’ names of the deceased. Census records are also very useful as they can show who was staying in the family home at the time and where the came from. As long as you have a name and/or a date to begin with you can set out on your on-line search.